‘WI’ must bring their A-game against Pakistan
Debutant Shadab Khan stunned West Indies in the first T20I in Barbados with returns of 3 for 7.
Debutant Shadab Khan stunned West Indies in the first T20I in Barbados with returns of 3 for 7.

FRIDAY April 7 will mark the return of international cricket to Guyana when Pakistan continue their tour of the West Indies.
The three One Day Internationals (ODIs) are scheduled for the Guyana National Stadium (April 7, 9, 11) with matches set to bowl off from 09:30hrs.
Given their recent run of form, West Indies are under pressure to bring their ‘A’ game, in order to avoid the indignity of having to qualify for the next World Cup in 2019.
The ODIs will be crucial, since the top eight teams in the ICC ODI rankings at the end of September 2017 automatically advance to the event in England.

Pakistan are currently ranked eighth on the ICC ODI rankings table, the last automatic-qualification spot, with 89 points while West Indies are five points behind them in ninth position with 84 points.
If West Indies fail to get into the top eight spots by September, they must participate in the 2018 ICC World Cup Qualifier.
That tournament is currently scheduled to be held in Bangladesh, although that may change if Bangladesh – currently ranked seventh with 91 points – gain an automatic qualification.
West Indies brand of ultra-aggressive limited-over cricket makes them favourites to extend their domination at home, especially at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, where the Caribbean side have won two of the three games against Pakistan.

Notwithstanding the favourites’ tag, the visitors will be no easy walkover, since last year when the two teams met in an ODI series on West Indies tour of the UAE, Pakistan won the series 3-0.
West Indies were in turmoil from the start of that tour after coach Phil Simmons was sacked on the eve of the team’s departure to Dubai.
It is the first Pakistan tour of the West Indies since 2013 – when Pakistan won a five-match ODI series 3-1 and swept a pair of T20 Internationals – and their first Test series in the Caribbean since a drawn two-match series in 2011.

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